Franchise News: CIT pool circling, as FMAC nears announcement

Goldman Sachs has been showing bidding parties a pool of unsecuritized franchise loans primarily originated by The CIT Group.

Sources have been speculating for a while whether or not CIT, now part of Tyco International, would securitize a portfolio of franchise loans on its own. The financing giant accounts for approximately two-thirds of the $752 million loan pool, along with collateral originated by Heller Financial, Atherton Capital and a financing arm of Nomura International, a source said.

Some potential buyers are interested in securitizing the loan pool, and have approached at least one rating agency with preliminary inquiries.

FMAC nearing deal?

Separately, rumor has it that Franchise Mortgage Acceptance Co. is within weeks of a significant announcement, which could concern the future ownership of the servicing on some or all of the loan portfolio. Sources speculated that the company, essentially a servicing operation at this point, may announce it is being absorbed into a larger, well capitalized entity. Officials at FMAC declined comment when contacted.

FMAC spun off as a servicing operation from Bay View Capital Corp. last summer. Bay View had acquired FMAC in 1999 to expand into franchise and other enterprise lending. The servicing and workout staff at FMAC is still servicing the loans backing the outstanding bonds (FMAC had securitized upwards of $3.5 billion), plus, initially at least, an additional $500 million to $650 million in unsecuritized loans.

Currently, Bay View's former chief financial officer, Mark Lefanowicz, is heading FMAC. Lefanowicz, now CEO of FMAC, stepped down from his post at Bay View at the end of May. Lefanowicz is said to have a background in loan workouts.

Subscribe Now

Access to a full range of industry content, analysis and expert commentary.